The Reverse Sweeptag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-812486424237565552011-12-16T08:45:00+00:00An acerbic and irreverent twist on the wonderful world of cricketTypePadThe English cricket captain who was born in...Perutag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a0120a735b61b970b0162fddfa646970d2011-12-16T08:45:00+00:002012-02-10T15:00:11+00:00Several England cricket captains have been born abroad. That redoubtable giant of the MCC Lord Harris was born in Trinidad. The cunning architect of Bodyline Douglas Jardine was born to Scottish parents in Mumbai. Perhaps his birthplace of Milan is the reason why Ted Dexter's batting seemed touched with la dolce vita. Finally, it is perhaps apt that Johannesburg born Andrew Strauss leads a team containing several members born in the country of his birth. But none of the baker’s dozen of foreign born skippers can boast as exotic a birthplace as Freddie Brown, born on the 16th day of...The Reverse SweepAshes 100-1: 13 - The 25 Greatest Ashes Tests: Part 2 of 3tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a0120a735b61b970b0133f5b6fef5970b2010-11-12T12:00:00+00:002010-11-13T06:25:58+00:00Yesterday we listed the first eight (see Part 1 of the 25 Greatest Ashes tests) of what we at The Reverse Sweep consider to be the 25 greatest Ashes tests of them all. Today we unveil the next eight. 3rd Test, Adelaide, 13-19 January 1933 - England won by 338 runs: The Test that nearly broke the Empire. With the series locked at 1-1, England slipped to 30 for four before recovering to 341. Then the real drama unfolded as first Woodfull and then Oldfield were felled by Larwood. Cables were exchanged between the ACB and MCC, mounted police kept...The Reverse SweepAshes 100-1: 47 - All-time England Ashes XI: 4 and 5 tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a0120a735b61b970b0133f4e6d7b9970b2010-10-09T08:00:00+01:002011-01-20T15:41:19+00:00The identity of the two batsmen we will select at four and five in an all-time England Ashes XI is a case of Wally Hammond plus one. We may have decided to shorehorn Len Hutton into our side at three in preference to Hammond, but we believe that there were good reasons for this. First, having chosen not to break up the tried and tested opening pair of Hobbs and Sutcliffe, space had to be found for someone who is indisputably one of England's five best Ashes batsmen ever. Second, we needed a captain and who better than the man...The Reverse SweepAshes 100-1: 54 - All-time England Ashes XI: Number 3 tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a0120a735b61b970b013487df7039970c2010-10-02T09:00:00+01:002011-01-20T15:39:58+00:00Unlike Australia (see All-time Australian XI - Number 3), picking a number three batsman in an all-time England Ashes XI is not such a straightforward task. Indeed, looking back through the history of the battle for the little urn, one could argue that England have not had an outstanding specialist number three. A few batsman have flourished in this role, but can any of them be considered specialist number threes? The most successful performance for England in this pivotal position is by Wally Hammond, who in 19 Ashes tests at first drop hit 1695 runs at 70.62 with eight hundreds....The Reverse Sweep